Apparatus and method for displaying computer health index

ABSTRACT

The disclosure discloses an apparatus for displaying a computer health index comprising: a memory having instructions stored thereon; a processor to execute the instructions to perform operations comprising: calculating at least one health sub-index, and calculating the computer health index based on the at least one health sub-index, wherein each health sub-index is associated with at least one computer state, and each health sub-index reflects a health degree of an associated computer state; and performing simple index display to display a small icon reflecting a value of the computer health index in a simple index display area.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 14/405,856,filed on Mar. 26, 2015, which is the National Stage of InternationalApplication No. PCT/CN2013/076456 filed on May 30, 2013, which claimsthe benefit of Chinese Patent Application No. 201210187219.8 filed Jun.7, 2012, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by referencein their entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The disclosure relates to the field of computer technology, and inparticular, to a method and apparatus for displaying a health indexrepresentative of a computer health state on a computer desktop.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the increasing development of computer and internet technologies,more and more users rely on computers to complete their daily work, andwhat is followed is that more and more malicious programs such ascomputer viruses, Trojans, etc. also began to invade users' computers,try to destroy data that users have stored on computers, and illegallyobtain users' sensitive data, and so on, which has caused serious lossesto users. For this reason, nowadays there also arise various anti-virussoftware and security applications, which may help users to prevent theinvasion of these malicious programs.

In the course of using a computer, a user generally needs to have acomprehensive understanding of the health state of his computer. Thecomputer health involves multiple aspects of the computer, for example,whether various security patches of the computer have already beenupdated timely, whether the firewall settings of the computer arereasonable, whether junk files in the computer have been cleaned uptimely, and whether various system sources of the computer areexcessively occupied, and the like. In general, the health state of acomputer depends on the security settings of the computer, theperformance of the computer and/or the cleanup state of junk files ofthe computer, etc. At present, there have already been a variety ofmethods, which calculate the overall health state of a computer based ona variety of settings of the computer, and display the overall healthstate to a user of the computer. Most current solutions will show asmall icon concerning a computer health state at the bottom right cornerof a desktop of a user, and if the user clicks the small icon, thesystem will display detailed information about the computer healthstate.

However, since the location where the small icon is does not belong toan area which the user focuses on, the user will often forget to clickthe small icon to display the health state of the computer, such thatthe user does not timely updates the settings concerning the computerhealth, which leads to the risk that the user's computer may be invadedmaliciously to increase. Therefore, there is a need for a solution whichdisplays the computer health state in a manner capable of sufficientlydrawing the user's attention, thereby prompting the user to timelyupdate the computer health settings, to keep the computer in ahealthiest state.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the above problems, the disclosure is proposed to provide amethod and apparatus for displaying a computer health index whichovercome the above problems or at least in part solve or mitigate theabove problems.

According to an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided an apparatusfor displaying a computer health index comprising: a memory havinginstructions stored thereon; a processor to execute the instructions toperform operations comprising: calculating at least one healthsub-index, and calculating the computer health index based on the atleast one health sub-index, wherein each health sub-index is associatedwith at least one computer state and each health sub-index reflects ahealth degree of an associated computer state; and performing simpleindex display to display a small icon reflecting a value of the computerhealth index in a simple index display area.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided amethod for displaying a computer health index comprising: calculating,by at least one processor, at least one health sub-index, and thecomputer health index based on the at least one health sub-index,wherein each health sub-index is associated with at least one computerstate and each health sub-index reflects a health degree of anassociated computer state; and performing, by at least one processor,simple index display to display a small icon reflecting a value of thecomputer health index in a simple index display area.

According to yet another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided anon-transitory computer readable medium having instructions storedthereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the atleast one processor to perform operations for displaying the computerhealth index, the operations comprising: calculating at least one healthsub-index and calculating the computer health index based on the atleast one health sub-index, wherein each health sub-index is associatedwith at least one computer state and each health sub-index reflects ahealth degree of an associated computer state; and performing simpleindex display to display a small icon reflecting a value of the computerhealth index in a simple index display area.

The beneficial effects of the disclosure lie in that:

The method for displaying the computer health index according to thedisclosure will in general display a small icon on a computer desktop,the appearance of the small icon will change with the computer healthindex, and such change of the small icon will draw a user's sufficientattention, such that the user may set the computer states upon focusingon the change of the small icon, to improve the health degrees of thecomputer states, thereby promoting the overall security of the computer.

In addition, since a detailed index display may be triggered in a simpleindex display area to display in greater detail the computer healthindex and each of the health sub-indices constituting the computerhealth index, upon focusing on the change of the small icon, the usermay easily trigger a detailed index display by, for example, simplyclicking an area located on or near the small icon, to display specificinformation on the computer health, such that it may be convenientlyknown which state(s) of the user's computer has or have a healthproblem(s), and setting may be performed for these states to improve thehealth degrees of the computer states, thereby promoting the overallsecurity of the computer.

The apparatus and method for displaying the computer health indexaccording to the disclosure provide a computer health state displaymechanism which easily draws a user's attention and facilitates the userto perform health setting, such that the user may conveniently set thecomputer states to have high health degrees, thereby promoting theoverall security of the computer.

The above description is merely an overview of the technical solutionsof the disclosure. In the following particular embodiments of thedisclosure will be illustrated in order that the technical means of thedisclosure can be more clearly understood and thus may be embodiedaccording to the content of the specification, and that the foregoingand other objects, features and advantages of the disclosure can be moreapparent.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various other advantages and benefits will become apparent to those ofordinary skills in the art by reading the following detailed descriptionof the preferred embodiments. The drawings are only for the purpose ofshowing the preferred embodiments, and are not considered to be limitingto the invention. And throughout the drawings, like reference signs areused to denote like components. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows schematically a block diagram of an apparatus fordisplaying a computer health index according to an embodiment of thedisclosure;

FIGS. 2-8 show schematically a desktop display state of the apparatusfor displaying the computer health index according to an embodiment ofthe disclosure; and

FIG. 9 shows schematically a flow chart of a computer health indexdisplay method according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 10 shows schematically a block diagram of a server for performing amethod according to the disclosure; and

FIG. 11 shows schematically a storage unit for retaining or carrying aprogram code implementing a method according to the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following the invention will be further described in connectionwith the drawings and the particular embodiments.

FIG. 1 shows schematically a block diagram of an apparatus fordisplaying a computer health index 100 according to an embodiment of thedisclosure. As shown in FIG. 1, the apparatus for displaying thecomputer health index 100 comprises a health index calculator 110 and asimple index display 120.

The health index calculator 110 may calculate a computer health indexreflecting the overall health state of a computer. The overall healthstate of a computer is associated with one or more computer states 150₁, 150 ₂ and 150 _(n) of the computer itself. As an example, a computerstate such as the security settings of the computer itself, thecondition in which the computer resources are used, and how much junkfiles there are in the computer, and so on, reflects more or less thehealth state of the computer. Optionally, it may be possible to classifyindividual states of the computer, set a health sub-index of acorresponding class for the computer states of each class, and totallycalculate the computer health index based on the individual healthsub-indices.

The classes of computer states may comprise the computer securityfirewall state 150 ₁, the computer performance state 150 ₂ and/or thecomputer cleanup state 150 _(n), etc.

The computer security firewall state 150 ₁ relates to various computerprotection settings, for example, the webpage security protectionsetting, the chat security protection setting, the download securityprotection setting, the U disk security protection setting, the hackerintrusion protection setting, the file system protection setting, thedriver protection setting, the process protection setting, and/or theregistry protection setting, etc. Each kind of protection settingsignificantly affects the health state of the computer, whether it isopened or not.

In an implementation of the disclosure, when all the protection settingsof a computer security firewall are opened, the health sub-index I₁corresponding to the computer security firewall state 150 ₁ is set to be100%; when there is one protection setting that is closed, thecorresponding health sub-index I₁ is set to be 50%; and when there aretwo or more protection settings that are closed, the correspondinghealth sub-index I₁ is set to be 10%. It should be appreciated that theabove-mentioned setting about the health sub-index I₁ is just oneinstance, and according to the instance, the skilled in the art mayabsolutely conceive various other setting modes without the need for anycreative effort.

The computer performance state 150 ₂ relates to a state in which variousresources of the computer are used, and the more the resources of thecomputer are used, it reflects that the worse the health state of thecomputer is. The various resources of the computer may comprise thecomputer memory, the storage space, the network bandwidth, etc.

In an implementation of the disclosure, the health sub-index I₂corresponding to the computer performance state 150 ₂ is set accordingto the condition in which the computer memory is used. For example, whenthe memory usage is lower than 50%, the corresponding health sub-indexI₂ is set to be 100%, whereas when the memory usage is greater than 50%,each time the memory usage is increased by 1%, the health sub-index I₂is decreased by 3%, until the corresponding health sub-index I₂ is setto be 10%. It will be appreciated that the above-mentioned setting aboutthe health sub-index I₂ is just one instance, and according to theinstance, the skilled in the art may absolutely conceive various othersetting modes without the need for any creative effort. For example, theskilled in the art may further consider other use conditions of thecomputer resources, e.g., the extent to which the network bandwidth isused, etc., all of which are within the protection scope of theinvention.

The computer cleanup state 150 _(n) relates to a state in which variousjunk files in the computer are cleaned up. In general, in the course ofuse, the computer will generate some junk files under some directories,and in addition to occupying the storage space, these junk files mightalso have malicious content, and therefore whether or not these can betimely cleaned up will also affect the health state of the computer.

In an implementation of the disclosure, the health sub-index I₃corresponding to the computer cleanup state 150 _(n) is set according tothe time span from the latest point that the computer cleaned up thejunk files. For example, if the time span from the latest point that thecomputer cleaned up the junk files is no more than 24 hours, the healthsub-index I₃ is set to be 100%, and subsequently, the health sub-indexI₃ is lowered by 1% every one hour, until the health sub-index I₃ is10%. It should be noted that the above-mentioned setting about thehealth sub-index I₃ is just one instance, and according to the instance,the skilled in the art may absolutely conceive various other settingmodes without the need for any creative effort.

After calculating the health sub-indices I₁, I₂ and I₃ of variouscomputer states, the health index calculator 110 may calculate theoverall health index according to these health sub-indices. There may bemany methods of calculating the overall health index I, for example, theoverall health index I may be simply calculated by taking the average ofthese health sub-indices, namely, I=(I₁+I₂+I₃)/3. Optionally,considering that effects of different kinds of computer states on theoverall health state of the computer are different, the overall healthindex I may thus be calculated as a weighted sum of the individualhealth sub-indices, namely, I=W₁×I₁+W₂×I₂+W₃×I₃. For example, in animplementation of the disclosure, W₁ may be set to be 60%, and W₂ and W₃may be set to be 20%, respectively. It will be appreciated by theskilled in the art that these modes of calculating the overall healthindex according to the health sub-indices are all within the protectionscope of the invention, and according to the above revelation, theskilled in the art may envisage many other calculating modes withoutdeparting from the protection scope of the invention.

The simple index display 120 may receive the computer health index fromthe health index calculator 110, and display a small icon reflecting avalue of the computer health index. The simple index display 120generally displays the small icon in a specific area on the desktop.FIG. 2 shows schematically a desktop display state according to anembodiment of the disclosure. In FIG. 2, the small icon 210 about thecomputer health index is displayed on a navigation map bar on the top ofthe screen, and as such, although the size of the small icon is verysmall, its change will easily be noticed by the user.

The appearance of the small icon may change with the value of thecomputer health index, thereby drawing the user's attention. Forexample, when the value of the computer health index is low, the smallicon is displayed in a more prominent mode, whereas as the value of thecomputer health index becomes higher and higher, the display mode of thesmall icon will be increasingly soft. In an implementation of thedisclosure, the color of the small icon may change with the value of thecomputer health index, and the higher the value of the health index, themore greenish the color is, whereas the lower the value of the healthindex, the reddish the color is. In another implementation of thedisclosure, the appearance of the small icon is displayed as a sphere,the filling amount of the sphere changes with the value of the healthindex, and the higher the value of the health index, the more full thefilling amount is. FIGS. 3 and 4 respectively show that the appearanceof the small icons 310 and 410 changes with the value of the healthindex, and in FIGS. 3 and 4, both the small icons 310 and 410 are shownto be a sphere having a certain filling amount. In FIG. 3, the value ofthe health index of the computer is relatively high, and at this point,the filling amount of the small icon 310 is relatively high, whereas inFIG. 4, the value of the health index of the computer is relatively low,and at this point, the filling amount of the small icon 410 is alsorelatively low. In addition, in an implementation of the disclosure,when the value of the health index is the largest (e.g., 100%), thesmall icon displayed by the simple index display 120 is a fixed icon.Thus, when there is no need for improving the health state of thecomputer by optimizing the computer, the user will not be disturbed bythe change of the small icon and get used to the display mode of thesmall icon. In FIG. 2, the display appearance 210 of the small icon whenthe value of the health index is the largest is already shown.

It is to be noted that, a plurality of instances about the display modesin which the simple index display 120 displays the small icon are givenabove, and these display modes may be used respectively or incombination. For example, while the color of the small icon changes, itsshape may also change. The display mode in which the simple indexdisplay 120 displays the small icon is not limited to theabove-mentioned specific display modes, and all the display modes inwhich the display appearance of the small icon may be changed accordingto the value of the health index are all within the protection scope ofthe invention.

The simple index display 120 may further comprise a trigger 122, andwhen the trigger 122 is triggered, it causes the apparatus fordisplaying the computer health index 100 to activate a detailed indexdisplay 130 to display detailed information on the computer healthindex. The trigger 122 may be triggered utilizing multiple modes, forexample, the simple index display 120 may show a trigger region (e.g.,the region as shown by 220 in FIG. 2) in an area proximate to the smallicon, and as long as the user clicks on the trigger region, the trigger122 may be triggered. Optionally, the trigger region may coincide withthe small icon, for example, as long as the user clicks on the smallicon, the trigger 122 may be triggered. The skilled in the art mayenvisage other trigger modes without departing from the protection scopeof the disclosure.

Upon activation, the detailed index display 130 may receive from thehealth index calculator 110 the computer health index I and one or morehealth sub-indices I₁, I₂ and I₃, and display in another specific areaon the desktop information on the computer health index I as well asinformation on each of the one or more health sub-indices I₁, I₂ and I₃.

In general, the display area A2 of the detailed index display 130 on thedesktop is adjacent to the display area A1 of the simple index display120, and the display area A2 is much larger than A1, therefore,according to an embodiment of the disclosure, A2 is generally shownunder A1, such that when the detailed index display 130 is triggered,the display of the display area A2 has the effect of a pop-up window.

FIG. 5 shows the display effect after the detailed index display 130 istriggered. As shown in FIG. 5, in the display area A1, there arecomprised the small icon 510 displayed by the simple index display 120and the trigger region 520. Under the display area A1, there is a largerdisplay area A2. The display area A2 may comprise two display sub-areasA21 and A22. In the display area A21, there is comprised information 530on the computer health index I, whereas in the display area A22, thereis comprised information 540 ₁, 540 ₂ and 540 ₃ on a computer stateassociated with each health sub-index I₁, I₂ and I₃.

When displaying the information 530 on the computer health index I, thedetailed index display 130 may display a large icon 530 reflecting thevalue of the computer health index and the value 534 of the computerhealth index. The display mode of the large icon 532 may be similar tothat of the small icon, and the difference may lie in that the size ofthe large icon 532 will be clearly larger than that of the small icon.

When displaying information 540 ₁, 540 ₂ and 540 ₃ on a computer stateassociated with each health sub-index I₁, I₂ and I₃, the detailed indexdisplay 130 may display the information 542 ₁, 542 ₂ and 542 ₃ on thecomputer state associated with each health sub-index I₁, I₂ and I₃, aswell as the information 544 ₁, 544 ₂ and 544 ₃ on the values of thehealth sub-indices.

As shown in FIG. 5, the information 542 on the computer states maycomprise the description of the computer states, for example, the“security index” 542 ₁, the “performance index” 542 ₂ and the“cleanliness index” 542 ₃ as shown in FIG. 5. The information 544 on thevalues of the health sub-indices may comprise power state bars 544 ₁,544 ₂ and 544 ₃ shown similarly to the form of indicating the state of apower source.

It should be noted that, the disclosure is not restricted to the abovedisplay mode, and as long as the user may obtain detailed information onthe computer health index according to the display content of thedetailed index display 130, such a display mode is within the protectionscope of the invention.

In addition, the detailed index display 130 further comprises one ormore computer state setting triggers 132 ₁, 132 ₂ and 132 _(n). Each ofthe computer state setting triggers 132 ₁, 132 ₂ and 132 _(n) isassociated with one corresponding computer state setter 140 ₁, 140 ₂ and140 _(n), and when each computer state setting trigger is triggered, acorresponding computer state setter 140 ₁, 140 ₂ and 140 _(n) is startedto set one or more computer states.

There may be multiple modes to trigger the computer state settingtriggers 132 ₁, 132 ₂ and 132 _(n). For example, the detailed indexdisplay 130 may set a trigger button (such as 546 ₁, 546 ₂ and 546 ₃)for each computer state in the display area A22. When the user clicks onthe trigger button 546 ₁, 546 ₂ and 546 ₃, a corresponding computerstate setting trigger 132 ₁, 132 ₂ and 132 _(n) will be triggered,thereby starting a corresponding computer state setter 140 ₁, 140 ₂ and140 _(n).

The detailed index display 130 may further comprise a display closeinterface 134 configured to receive a close instruction of the user toclose the detailed index display 130. The detailed index display 130 maydisplay a display close area A3 in its display area A2, and when theuser clicks on the display close area A3, the display close interface134 will close the detailed index display 130 and clear the display areaA2.

FIGS. 6-8 show respectively the displayed computer state setters 140 ₁,140 ₂ and 140 _(n) when the triggers 132 corresponding to the computersecurity firewall state, the computer performance state and the computercleanup state are triggered, respectively. The user may set acorresponding computer state in a corresponding computer state setter,for example, the computer state setter 140 ₁ shown in FIG. 6 isconfigured to open or close various computer protection settings,thereby set the computer security firewall state 150 ₁; the computerstate setter 140 ₂ shown in FIG. 7 is configured to clean up theoccupation of computer resources, thereby set the computer performancestate 150 ₂; and the computer state setter 140 ₃ shown in FIG. 8 isconfigured to clean up junk files of the computer, thereby set thecomputer cleanup state 150 _(n).

In general, after various computer states have been changed, the healthindex calculator 110 will re-calculate the various health sub-indicesI₁, I₂ and I₃ and the computer health index I, and notify the simpleindex display 120 and the detailed index display 130. Subsequently, thesimple index display 120 and the detailed index display 130 will updatethe corresponding display, such that the user may timely obtaincorresponding information on the computer health state.

The apparatus for displaying the computer health index according to thedisclosure will in general display a small icon on the computer desktoputilizing the simple index display, the appearance of the small iconwill change with the computer health index, and such change of the smallicon will draw a user's sufficient attention, such that the user may setthe computer states upon focusing on the change of the small icon, toimprove the health degrees of the computer states, thereby promoting theoverall security of the computer.

In addition, in the apparatus for displaying the computer health indexaccording to the disclosure, since the simple index display has atrigger to activate the detailed index display to display in greaterdetail the computer health index and each of the health sub-indicesconstituting the computer health index, upon focusing on the change ofthe small icon, the user may easily trigger a detailed index display by,for example, simply clicking an area located on or near the small icon,to display specific information on the computer health, such that it maybe conveniently known which state(s) of the user's computer has or havea health problem(s), and setting may be performed for these states toimprove the health degrees of the computer states, thereby furtherpromoting the overall security of the computer.

FIG. 9 shows schematically a flow chart of a method for displaying acomputer health index display method 900 according to an embodiment ofthe disclosure, which method 900 may be carried out in the apparatus fordisplaying the computer health index according to the disclosure. Asshown in FIG. 9, the method 900 starts at step S910, where a computerhealth index reflecting the overall health state of a computer iscalculated. The overall health state of a computer is associated withone or more computer states of the computer itself. As an example, acomputer state such as the security settings of the computer itself, thecondition in which the computer resources are used, and how much junkfiles there are in the computer, and so on, reflects more or less thehealth state of the computer. Optionally, in step S910, it may bepossible to classify individual states of the computer, set a healthsub-index of a corresponding class for the computer states of eachclass, and totally calculate the computer health index based on theindividual health sub-indices. The description in connection with thehealth index calculator 110 in the above has already described in detailhow to calculate the computer health index, and will not be repeatedhere.

Next, in step S920, simple index display is done to display in a simpleindex display area a small icon reflecting a value of the computerhealth index. The appearance of the small icon may change with the valueof the computer health index, thereby drawing the user's attention. Forexample, when the value of the computer health index is low, the smallicon is displayed in a more prominent mode, whereas as the value of thecomputer health index becomes higher and higher, the display mode of thesmall icon will be increasingly soft. in the description in connectionwith FIGS. 2-4, the display mode of the small icon has already bedescribed in detail, and will not be repeated here.

Optionally, the method 900 further comprises step S930, where a triggerregion is set in the simple index display area, and if the user clickson the trigger region, detailed index display will be triggered todisplay in a detailed index display area information on the computerhealth index I, as well as information on health sub-indices I₁, I₂ andI₃.

In general, as shown in FIG. 5, the detailed index display area A2 isadjacent to the simple index display area A1, and the display area A2 ismuch larger than A1, and A2 is generally shown under A1, such that whenthe detailed index display is triggered, the display of the display areaA2 has the effect of a pop-up window.

The display area A2 may comprise two display sub-areas A21 and A22. Inthe display area A21, there is comprised information 530 on the computerhealth index I, whereas in the display area A22, there is comprisedinformation 540 ₁, 540 ₂ and 540 ₃ on a computer state associated witheach health sub-index I₁, I₂ and I₃.

When the information 530 on the computer health index I is displayed instep S930, a large icon 530 reflecting the value of the computer healthindex and the value 534 of the computer health index may be displayed.The display mode of the large icon 532 may be similar to that of thesmall icon, and the difference may lie in that the size of the largeicon 532 will be clearly larger than that of the small icon.

In step S930, when information 540 ₁, 540 ₂ and 540 ₃ on a computerstate associated with each health sub-index I₁, I₂ and I₃ is displayed,the information 542 ₁, 542 ₂ and 542 ₃ on the computer state associatedwith each health sub-index I₁, I₂ and I₃, as well as the information 544₁, 544 ₂ and 544 ₃ on the values of the health sub-indices may bedisplayed.

In the above, the content of detailed index display has already beendescribed in detail in connection with FIG. 5, and will not be repeatedhere.

Optionally, in step S930, a computer state setting trigger area isfurther displayed in the detailed index display area. Therefore, whenthe user triggers on the computer state setting trigger area in stepS940, a corresponding computer state setter is started to set one ormore computer states.

Optionally, the method 900 further comprises step S950, where when thecomputer states have been changed, the health sub-indices arere-calculated, and the computer health index is re-calculated.

Optionally, in step S930, a display close area is further displayed inthe detailed index display area. Therefore, in step S960, when the userclicks on the display close area, a close instruction of the user isreceived to clear the displayed content in step S930.

It should be noted that, in the individual components of the displayapparatus of the disclosure, the components therein are dividedlogically according to the functionality to be realized by them,however, the disclosure is not limited thereto, and the individualcomponents may be re-divided or combined as needed, for example, somecomponents may be combined into a single component, or some componentsmay be further decomposed into more sub-components.

Embodiments of the individual components of the invention may beimplemented in hardware, or in a software module running on one or moreprocessors, or in a combination thereof. It will be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art that, in practice, some or all of the functions ofsome or all of the components in the apparatus for displaying thecomputer health index according to individual embodiments of theinvention may be realized using a microprocessor or a digital signalprocessor (DSP). The invention may also be implemented as an apparatusor device program (e.g., a computer program and a computer programproduct) for carrying out a part or all of the method as describedherein. Such a program implementing the invention may be stored on acomputer readable medium, or may be in the form of one or more signals.Such a signal may be obtained by downloading it from an Internetwebsite, or provided on a carrier signal, or provided in any other form.

For example, FIG. 10 shows a server which may carry out a method fordisplaying the computer health index according to the disclosure, e.g.,an application server. The server traditionally comprises a processor1010 and a computer program product or a computer readable medium in theform of a memory 1020. The memory 1020 may be an electronic memory suchas a flash memory, an EEPROM (electrically erasable programmableread-only memory), an EPROM, a hard disk or a ROM. The memory 1020 has amemory space 1030 for a program code 1031 for carrying out any methodsteps in the methods as described above. For example, the memory space1030 for a program code may comprise individual program codes 1031 forcarrying out individual steps in the above methods, respectively. Theprogram codes may be read out from or written to one or more computerprogram products. These computer program products comprise such aprogram code carrier as a hard disk, a compact disk (CD), a memory cardor a floppy disk. Such a computer program product is generally aportable or stationary storage unit as described with reference to FIG.11. The storage unit may have a memory segment, a memory space, etc.arranged similarly to the memory 1020 in the server of FIG. 10. Theprogram code may for example be compressed in an appropriate form. Ingeneral, the storage unit comprises a computer readable code 1031′,i.e., a code which may be read by e.g., a processor such as 1010, andwhen run by a server, the codes cause the server to carry out individualsteps in the methods described above.

“An embodiment”, “the embodiment” or “one or more embodiments” mentionedherein implies that a particular feature, structure or characteristicdescribed in connection with an embodiment is included in at least oneembodiment of the invention. In addition, it is to be noted that,examples of a phrase “in an embodiment” herein do not necessarily allrefer to one and the same embodiment.

In the specification provided herein, a plenty of particular details aredescribed. However, it can be appreciated that an embodiment of theinvention may be practiced without these particular details. In someembodiments, well known methods, structures and technologies are notillustrated in detail so as not to obscure the understanding of thespecification.

It is to be noted that the above embodiments illustrate rather thanlimit the invention, and those skilled in the art may design alternativeembodiments without departing the scope of the appended claims. In theclaims, any reference sign placed between the parentheses shall not beconstrued as limiting to a claim. The word “comprise” does not excludethe presence of an element or a step not listed in a claim. The word “a”or “an” preceding an element does not exclude the presence of aplurality of such elements. The invention may be implemented by means ofa hardware comprising several distinct elements and by means of asuitably programmed computer. In a unit claim enumerating severalapparatuses, several of the apparatuses may be embodied by one and thesame hardware item. Use of the words first, second, and third, etc. doesnot mean any ordering. Such words may be construed as naming.

Furthermore, it is also to be noted that the language used in thedescription is selected mainly for the purpose of readability andteaching, but not selected for explaining or defining the subject matterof the invention. Therefore, for those of ordinary skills in the art,many modifications and variations are apparent without departing thescope and spirit of the appended claims. For the scope of the invention,the disclosure of the invention is illustrative, but not limiting, andthe scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for displaying a computer healthindex, comprising: a memory having instructions stored thereon; aprocessor to execute the instructions to perform operations comprising:calculating at least one health sub-index and calculating the computerhealth index based on the at least one health sub-index, wherein each ofthe at least one health sub-index is associated with at least onecomputer state, and each of the at least one health sub-index reflects ahealth degree of an associated computer state; performing simple indexdisplay in a specific area on a desktop to display a first iconreflecting a value of the computer health index; wherein the first icondisplayed by the simple index display is a first sphere, the firstsphere changes its shape with the value of the computer health index, acolor filled the first sphere changes from red to green or vice versabased on the value of the computer health index, and when the value ofthe computer health index is 100%, the first icon displayed by thesimple index display becomes a fixed icon; triggering by a user, thespecific area on the desktop to display a detailed index display area,the detailed index display area containing: a second icon reflecting thevalue of the computer health index, the second icon is a second sphereand is larger than the first icon, and a color filled the second spherechanges from red to green or vice versa based on the value of thecomputer health index; information of the computer health index andinformation of each of the at least one health sub-index; a computerstate setting trigger area for receiving at least one trigger commandfrom the user when the user clicks on the computer state setting triggerarea; and updating the first and second icons to reflect the at leastone trigger command received from the user.
 2. The apparatus fordisplaying the computer health index as claimed in claim 1, wherein thedetailed index display area comprises information of each of the atleast one computer state associated with each of the at least one healthsub-index and information of a value of each of the at least one healthsub-index.
 3. The apparatus for displaying the computer health index asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one computer state comprises atleast one of a computer security protection state, a computerperformance state, and a computer cleanup state.
 4. The apparatus fordisplaying the computer health index as claimed in claim 1, wherein thecomputer health index is calculated by performing weighted summation ofthe at least one health sub-index.
 5. The apparatus for displaying thecomputer health index as claimed in claim 1, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: receiving a close instruction of a user to closecontents displayed by the simple index display.
 6. The apparatus fordisplaying the computer health index as claimed in claim 1, wherein thesimple index display further displays a detailed display trigger areafor receiving a trigger command of a user; and the detailed displaytrigger area of the simple index display is triggered when a user clickson the detailed display trigger area.
 7. A method for displaying acomputer health index, comprising: calculating, by at least oneprocessor, at least one health sub-index and the computer health indexbased on the at least one health sub-index, wherein each of the at leastone health sub-index is associated with at least one computer state, andeach of the at least one health sub-index reflects a health degree of anassociated computer state; performing, by the at least one processor,simple index display in a specific area on a desktop to display a firsticon reflecting a value of the computer health index, wherein the firsticon displayed by the simple index display is a first sphere, the firstsphere changes its shape with the value of the computer health index, acolor filled the first sphere changes from red to green or vice versabased on the value of the computer health index, and when the value ofthe computer health index is 100%, the first icon displayed by thesimple index display becomes a fixed icon; triggering by a user, thespecific area on the desktop to display a detailed index display area,the detailed index display area containing: a second icon reflecting thevalue of the computer health index, the second icon is a second sphereand is larger than the first icon, and a color filled the second spherechanges from red to green or vice versa based on the value of thecomputer health index; information of the computer health index andinformation of each of the at least one health sub-index; a computerstate setting trigger area for receiving at least one trigger commandfrom the user when the user clicks on the computer state setting triggerarea; and updating the first and second icons to reflect the at leastone trigger command received from the user.
 8. The method for displayingthe computer health index as claimed in claim 7, wherein: the detailedindex display area comprises information of each of the at least onecomputer state associated with each of the at least one health sub-indexand information of a value of each of the at least one health sub-index.9. The method for displaying the computer health index as claimed inclaim 7, wherein the at least one computer state comprises at least oneof a computer security protection state, a computer performance state,and a computer cleanup state.
 10. The method for displaying the computerhealth index as claimed in claim 7, wherein the computer health index iscalculated by performing weighted summation of the at least one healthsub-index.
 11. A non-transitory computer readable medium havinginstructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least oneprocessor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations fordisplaying a computer health index, the operations comprising:calculating at least one health sub-index and calculating the computerhealth index based on the at least one health sub-index, wherein each ofthe at least one health sub-index is associated with at least onecomputer state, and each of the at least one health sub-index reflects ahealth degree of an associated computer state; performing simple indexdisplay in a specific area on a desktop to display a first iconreflecting a value of the computer health index, wherein the first icondisplayed by the simple index display is a first sphere, the firstsphere changes its shape with the value of the computer health index, acolor filled the first sphere changes from red to green or vice versabased on the value of the computer health index, and when the value ofthe computer health index is 100%, the first icon displayed by thesimple index display becomes a fixed icon; triggering by a user, thespecific area on the desktop to display a detailed index display area,the detailed index display area containing: a second icon reflecting thevalue of the computer health index, the second icon is a second sphereand is larger than the first icon, and a color filled the second spherechanges from red to green or vice versa based on the value of thecomputer health index; information of the computer health index andinformation of each of the at least one health sub-index; a computerstate setting trigger area for receiving at least one trigger commandfrom the user when the user clicks on the computer state setting triggerarea; and updating the first and second icons to reflect the at leastone trigger command received from the user.